DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team returns to the road when it travels to Mt. Pleasant, Mich. to face off against Central Michigan Friday night at McQuirk Arena.

Competition begins at 6 p.m. Central Time and will be carried live on ESPN3. Live stats will also be available as well via cmuchippewas.com.

"It's always good to go against the best in the conference, just because you get a good read as to where you're at," NIU head coach Sam Morreale said of this weekend's match up at Central Michigan. "We're going up there to win, hit routines and put a good score out there. It will be exciting."

The Huskies (3-1, 1-1) enter its Mid-American Conference match up with Central Michigan looking to rebound from their first loss of the season, a 193.825-192.525 setback to Western Michigan last week.

Despite the setback, NIU did have some strong performances in the vault and uneven bars, winning both events. Megan Greenfield (9.750) and Andie Van Voorhis (9.725) finished first and second respectively on the vault. Greenfield also took first on the beam, posting a 9.775.

"Greeny is a rockstar," Morreale said of Greenfield. "She's got her head in the right place. She practices really well, which in turn transfers into really good performances in competition."

The Huskies have suffered a few injuries the last few weeks, but that has given other gymnasts their opportunity to contribute.

"Everyone who is stepping in is stepping up," he said. "A lot of the freshmen are doing really well. Andie Van Voorhis had a really good meet last week in the two events she competes in. That's the key for us. We have a bunch of kids stepping up and trying to push us forward."

NIU's bars squad posted its best score of the season with a 48.775 against Western Michigan. Meg Piepenbrink led the way for the Huskies on the event, scoring a career-high 9.800 to finish first in the event.

Central Michigan (6-2, 2-0) enters Friday's meet after finishing second at the fifth annual Illinois vs. Michigan Classic at Illinois State. The Chippewas finished behind Eastern Michigan but defeated UIC and Illinois State.

- NIU -